Ranked severe maternal morbidity index for population-level surveillance at delivery hospitalization based on hospital discharge data.

BACKGROUND: Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) is broadly defined as an unexpected and potentially life-threatening event associated with labor and delivery. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) produced 21 different indicators based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) hospital diagnostic and procedure codes to identify cases of SMM. OBJECTIVES: To examine existing SMM indicators and determine which indicators identified the most in-hospital mortality at delivery hospitalization. METHODS: Data from the 1993-2015 and 2017-2019 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's National Inpatient Sample were used to report SMM indicator-specific prevalences, in-hospital mortality rates, and population attributable fractions (PAF) of mortality. We hierarchically ranked indicators by their overall PAF of in-hospital mortality. Predictive modeling determined if SMM prevalence remained comparable after transition to ICD-10-CM coding. RESULTS: The study population consisted of 18,198,934 hospitalizations representing 87,864,173 US delivery hospitalizations. The 15 top ranked indicators identified 80% of in-hospital mortality; the proportion identified by the remaining indicators was negligible (2%). The top 15 indicators were: restoration of cardiac rhythm; cardiac arrest; mechanical ventilation; tracheostomy; amniotic fluid embolism; aneurysm; acute respiratory distress syndrome; acute myocardial infarction; shock; thromboembolism, pulmonary embolism; cerebrovascular disorders; sepsis; both DIC and blood transfusion; acute renal failure; and hysterectomy. The overall prevalence of the top 15 ranked SMM indicators (~22,000 SMM cases per year) was comparable after transition to ICD-10-CM coding. CONCLUSIONS: We determined the 15 indicators that identified the most in-hospital mortality at delivery hospitalization in the US. Continued testing of SMM indicators can improve measurement and surveillance of the most severe maternal complications at the population level.

Hypertensive Disorders in Pregnancy and Mortality at Delivery Hospitalization - United States, 2017-2019.

Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDPs), defined as prepregnancy (chronic) or pregnancy-associated hypertension, are common pregnancy complications in the United States.* HDPs are strongly associated with severe maternal complications, such as heart attack and stroke (1), and are a leading cause of pregnancy-related death in the United States.† CDC analyzed nationally representative data from the National Inpatient Sample to calculate the annual prevalence of HDP among delivery hospitalizations and by maternal characteristics, and the percentage of in-hospital deaths with an HDP diagnosis code documented. During 2017-2019, the prevalence of HDP among delivery hospitalizations increased from 13.3% to 15.9%. The prevalence of pregnancy-associated hypertension increased from 10.8% in 2017 to 13.0% in 2019, while the prevalence of chronic hypertension increased from 2.0% to 2.3%. Prevalence of HDP was highest among delivery hospitalizations of non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black) women, non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women, and women aged ≥35 years, residing in zip codes in the lowest median household income quartile, or delivering in hospitals in the South or the Midwest Census regions. Among deaths that occurred during delivery hospitalization, 31.6% had any HDP documented. Clinical guidance for reducing complications from HDP focuses on prompt identification and preventing progression to severe maternal complications through timely treatment (1). Recommendations for identifying and monitoring pregnant persons with hypertension include measuring blood pressure throughout pregnancy,§ including self-monitoring. Severe complications and mortality from HDP are preventable with equitable implementation of strategies to identify and monitor persons with HDP (1) and quality improvement initiatives to improve prompt treatment and increase awareness of urgent maternal warning signs (2).

Frequency of cannabis use during pregnancy and adverse infant outcomes, by cigarette smoking status - 8 PRAMS states, 2017.

BACKGROUND: Research on prenatal cannabis use and adverse infant outcomes is inconsistent, and findings vary by frequency of use or cigarette use. We assess (1) the prevalence of high frequency (≥once/week), low frequency (

Report of the Office of Population Affairs' expert work group meeting on short birth spacing and adverse pregnancy outcomes: Methodological quality of existing studies and future directions for research.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that women wait at least 24 months after a livebirth before attempting a subsequent pregnancy to reduce the risk of adverse maternal, perinatal, and infant health outcomes. However, the applicability of the WHO recommendations for women in the United States is unclear, as breast feeding, nutrition, maternal age at first birth, and total fertility rate differs substantially between the United States and the low- and middle-resource countries upon which most of the evidence is based. METHODS: To inform guideline development for birth spacing specific to women in the United States, the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) convened an expert work group meeting in Washington, DC, on 14-15 September 2017 among reproductive, perinatal, paediatric, social, and public health epidemiologists; obstetrician-gynaecologists; biostatisticians; and experts in evidence synthesis related to women's health. RESULTS: Presentations and discussion topics included the methodological quality of existing studies, evaluation of the evidence for causal effects of short interpregnancy intervals on adverse perinatal and maternal health outcomes, good practices for future research, and identification of research gaps and priorities for future work. CONCLUSIONS: This report provides an overview of the presentations, discussions, and conclusions from the expert work group meeting.

Good practices for the design, analysis, and interpretation of observational studies on birth spacing and perinatal health outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Meta-analyses of observational studies have shown that women with a shorter interpregnancy interval (the time from delivery to start of a subsequent pregnancy) are more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm delivery or small for gestational age birth, than women who space their births further apart. However, the studies used to inform these estimates have methodological shortcomings. METHODS: In this commentary, we summarise the discussions of an expert workgroup describing good practices for the design, analysis, and interpretation of observational studies of interpregnancy interval and adverse perinatal health outcomes. RESULTS: We argue that inferences drawn from research in this field will be improved by careful attention to elements such as: (a) refining the research question to clarify whether the goal is to estimate a causal effect vs describe patterns of association; (b) using directed acyclic graphs to represent potential causal networks and guide the analytic plan of studies seeking to estimate causal effects; (c) assessing how miscarriages and pregnancy terminations may have influenced interpregnancy interval classifications; (d) specifying how key factors such as previous pregnancy loss, pregnancy intention, and maternal socio-economic position will be considered; and (e) examining if the association between interpregnancy interval and perinatal outcome differs by factors such as maternal age. CONCLUSION: This commentary outlines the discussions of this recent expert workgroup, and describes several suggested principles for study design and analysis that could mitigate many potential sources of bias.

Maternal Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations during Pregnancy and Infant Birthweight for Gestational Age: a Three-Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: In response to inconsistent findings, we investigated associations between maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations and infant birthweight for gestational age (BW/GA), including potential effect modification by maternal race/ethnicity and infant sex. METHODS: Data from 2558 pregnant women were combined in a nested case-control study (preterm and term) sampled from three cohorts: the Omega study, the Pregnancy, Infection and Nutrition study, and the Pregnancy Outcomes and Community Health study. Maternal 25(OH)D concentrations were sampled at 4 to 29 weeks gestation (80% 14-26 weeks). BW/GA was modelled as sex and gestational age-specific birthweight z-scores. General linear regression models (adjusting for age, education, parity, pre-pregnancy body mass index, season at blood draw, and smoking) assessed 25(OH)D concentrations in relation to BW/GA. RESULTS: Among non-Hispanic Black women, the positive association between 25(OH)D concentrations and BW/GA was of similar magnitude in pregnancies with female or male infants [beta (ß) = 0.015, standard error (SE) = 0.007, P = 0.025; ß = 0.018, SE = 0.006, P = 0.003, respectively]. Among non-Hispanic White women, 25(OH)D-BW/GA association was observed only with male infants, and the effect size was lower (ß = 0.008, SE = 0.003, P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Maternal serum concentrations of 25(OH)D in early and mid-pregnancy were positively associated with BW/GA among non-Hispanic Black male and female infants and non-Hispanic White male infants. Effect modification by race/ethnicity may be due, in part, to overall lower concentrations of 25(OH)D in non-Hispanic Blacks. Reasons for effect modification by infant sex remain unclear.

The Healthy African American Families (HAAF) project: from community-based participatory research to community-partnered participatory research.

During the past two decades, there has been an increased use of community-based participatory research in public health activities, especially as part of efforts to understand health disparities affecting communities of color. This article describes the history and lessons learned of a long-standing community participatory project, Healthy African American Families (HAAF), in Los Angeles, California. HAAF evolved from a partnership formed by a community advisory board, university, and federal health agency to an independent, incorporated community organization that facilitates and brokers research and health promotion activities within its community. HAAF created mechanisms for community education and networks of community relationships and reciprocity through which mutual support, research, and interventions are integrated. These sustained, institutionalized relationships unite resources and both community and scientific expertise in a community-partnered participatory research model to address multiple health problems in the community, including preterm birth, HIV, asthma, depression, and diabetes. The HAAF participatory process builds on existing community resiliency and resources and on centuries of self-help, problem-solving, cooperative action, and community activism within the African American community. HAAF demonstrates how community-partnered participatory research can be a mechanism for directing power, collective action, system change, and social justice in the process of addressing health disparities at the community level.

The joint effect of vaginal Ureaplasma urealyticum and bacterial vaginosis on adverse pregnancy outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations of vaginal Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) and bacterial vaginosis (BV) with preterm delivery (PTD), small for gestational age (SGA), and low birth weight (LBW). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A population-based, prospective cohort study of 2,927 pregnancies. After exclusion of multiples and antibiotic use sample size was 2,662. BV (Amsel's criteria) and UU (culture) were assessed in week 17. Gestational age was determined by last menstrual period, confirmed by ultrasound measurement in 97.5%. SGA infants were calculated from intrauterine fetal growth measurements. RESULTS: There was no increased risk for spontaneous PTD among women with BV only (crude odds ratio 1.0, 95% CI 0.4-2.7), among women with UU only (1.3, 0.8-2.0), nor among women with UU + BV (0.9, 0.4-2.3) compared to women without UU and BV. However, there was a threefold increased risk of a LBW birth in women with UU + BV (3.1, 1.8-5.4), a twofold risk of a LBW birth among women with UU only (1.9, 1.3-2.9), but no increased risk among women with BV only (0.8, 0.3-2.2). Similarly, women with UU + BV had over a twofold increased risk of an SGA birth (2.3, 1.3-4.0), women with UU only had a 70% increase (1.7, 1.1-2.5), whereas a nonsignificant increase was found in women with BV only (1.3, 0.6-2.9). Adjustment by established confounders (smoking, previous PTD, previous LBW, and Escherichia coli) did not affect risk estimates. CONCLUSION: This analysis suggests that UU is independently associated with fetal growth and LBW and that BV with UU may enhance the risk of these outcomes.